Definition of peculium

pluralpeculia\-ēə\

1: the property held by a person (as a wife, child, slave) under the potestas, manus, or mancipium of another as his own private property either by the permission of the paterfamilias or master or by the rules of law but becoming with certain exceptions the property of the paterfamilas or master at his pleasure — compare bona adventitia

2: a fund or property held by one as his own exclusive possession or for his own private use (as the salary of a Roman soldier or the separate personal property of a wife in Scotland)